Road permits and logging companies

[tenrag]

Last week a friend of mine was driving the Ravenshead (Region 4-25) and came across a sign on the road saying it was closed to through traffic and a permit was required to proceed. The road is on crown land so it is public land on both sides of the area being logged.
My question: Can a logging company close a road on crown land while they work? On this particular day the operation was operating on the main road so passing was not an option because of safety but if they are not operating on the weekends can you still pass?

Your help is appreciated.

GW

[Aheny]

The sign only applies to commercial traffic

[bandit]

Legally - they can only block access for safety reasons.

Practically - they can block it for any reason and pretty much the authorities will do nothing.

[junkyard_g]

General speaking if the road is not gated and it is not private you are good to go. Forest companies can restrict access if they are the sole industrial user and maintainer of that road and if it does not access property or rec areas. this is rare but not unheard of. some examples are this are woodlot roads (not private land but private timber rights), roads close to towns where there is a threat of environmental damage from 4 wheelers and partiers etc. They usually can't restrict your access (unless there is a safety concern tied to an active worksite) but they can restrict your vehicle access as they incur all the cost of the road building, maintenance and such. if in doubt contact the local MOF office or FrountCounterBC.

[Sofa King]

yes they can, they can do as they please.
FSR's are not public roads, they are forestry roads that they allow us to use.

[ramit]

Fsr are public roads

[Coyote]

We've gone to court over this during the Carmanah fight. The public has the right to use FSR and crown land. The logging company can and should shut down the road for legitimate safety reasons. Hauling is not one of them but falling, road const, blasting, skidding, yarding, loading are legit reasons. If the road is gated or blocked with no activity behind it the MoF should and likely will require it be opened.

[J_T]

It also depends who holds the road use permit. Typically that will be the forest company, giving them some control over use as well as responsibility for maintenance at their cost. find out if there is a road use permit on the road and who holds it. Then consider getting in touch with them.

[Aheny]

That is commonly believed bit completely false duallie. The only forest roads in bc which can be legally blocked to the public arethe ones owned by timber west. This is because they own the land. All other logging roads access crown land, which is public.

They can and do require road use agreements with industrial users, in order to make sure everyone pays their fair share of the maintenance, but they have no authority over private citizens who are using it to access public land. It is part of the cost of the privelege of being allowed to make roads in BC

[junkyard_g]

I used to work at a research forest which was crown land, we had the roads gated but we could not stop people from walking around the gate or bicycling around the woodlot (was close to town). In my earlier post i wasn't refering to FSR's as much as single use access roads. an example would be radio controlled mine access roads which are often gated.

[findlyflats]

hi all
does anyone have more info on this, we are going through there next week. any idea what km they are logging.

[Darksith]

yes they can, they can do as they please.
FSR's are not public roads, they are forestry roads that they allow us to use.

absolutely wrong

[E.V.B.H.]

That is commonly believed bit completely false duallie. The only forest roads in bc which can be legally blocked to the public arethe ones owned by timber west. This is because they own the land. All other logging roads access crown land, which is public.

They can and do require road use agreements with industrial users, in order to make sure everyone pays their fair share of the maintenance, but they have no authority over private citizens who are using it to access public land. It is part of the cost of the privelege of being allowed to make roads in BC

Tembec in the elk valley owns lots of land, I think a couple hundred thousand acres, their roads are all their own however they allow full access for the most part.

[bandit]

Tembec in the elk valley owns lots of land, I think a couple hundred thousand acres, their roads are all their own however they allow full access for the most part.

Tembec and TW are not the only private forestry landowners in BC.. Island Timbers, Hancock and Western FP have private land on the island. Then there's the German guy who owns half of Texada as well as some other smaller private owners in the Kootenays. They can all restrict access if they wish, although most of the public don't seem to respect that.

[Mauser98]

yes they can, they can do as they please.
FSR's are not public roads, they are forestry roads that they allow us to use.

Agreed, FSR's aren't public roads(highways). They are industrial roads owned by the Forest Service and generally are open for public use.

Of couse, this debate has been going on forever and will probably never be resolved.

From the definition section of the Motor Vehicle Act.

"highway" includes
(a) every highway within the meaning of the Transportation Act,
(b) every road, street, lane or right of way designed or intended for or used by the general public for the passage of vehicles, and
(c) every private place or passageway to which the public, for the purpose of the parking or servicing of vehicles, has access or is invited,

but does not include an industrial road;

"industrial road" means industrial road as defined in the Industrial Roads Act, and includes a forest service road as defined in the Forest Act and land designated as a development road under section 139 (1) of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act;

[oldnotdead]

I wonder if they put the road in are they not liable for reasonable traffic safety via road maintenance and posting of signs etc. If they put the road in and have haul trucks is it a work place?. I believe there was a law suit years back over a dugout and injury that occured due to driving into it . Next week to months or so roads were being gated and put to bed and closed at that time. I think if one goes around a gate or fence the company is no longer liable. The questions are how do we know the difference between a "real" gate or fence, and if we cross it to hunt are we breaking the law ie industrial property or agriculture property. Does it have to be posted with the companies name. Normally a gate or fence at my place means no tresspassing. Most companies lease the land from us for industrial purposes but some of the larger ones own it. It is very grey to me.